


Hello Again

by MistressSiM



Series: Carl [2]
Category: The Walking Dead (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon, F/M, Gen, Shane Lives
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-03-31
Updated: 2015-07-26
Packaged: 2018-03-20 14:24:52
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 2,242
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3653709
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MistressSiM/pseuds/MistressSiM
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The baby's name is Judith, and she has Lori's eyes. Rick quickly forbids Shane from touching her, and though he desperately wants to object, he holds his tongue. Something tells him that Rick should not be tested. He leads the group with quiet efficiency. At the warning looks the man cuts him and then Carl, he knows that there's only one reason he's still here.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. A Greeting

Carl is the first and only one to run for Shane.

God, he's gotten so _big_ , legs and arms lithe and spindly with youth, his face lacking in baby fat, his hair dusting against his neck. Shane doesn't have to kneel too low to catch him, and his breath leaves him when he heaves the boy into his arms. He wraps his arms tightly around Shane's neck, shaking with what he quickly realizes are tears. He doesn't realize that he's crying, too, not until Carl pulls back and huffs a laugh, wiping at his cheeks with calloused hands far larger than they'd been since he saw him last. How long has it been? A year and a half? Two? It feels like just yesterday that he left after that fight with Rick, fully intent on getting himself eaten.

"Damn, boy. You got big!"

"Damn, you've got hair again," Carl laughs, tugging at where his hair has grown down to his neck. He means to cut it everyday, but usually he ends up putting it in a slipshod bun.

Carl's voice is deep, both foreign and familiar, and it lacks that stutter he'd been so embarrassed about. Shane can't help but pull him tight again, because he'd honestly never believed Carl would survive long. He just wants to soak him in.

He doesn't know how long they stand there swaying back and forth. Rick eventually breaks their little bubble by calling their names. There is a strange emptiness to his voice, gravelly with disuses. Shane scans the group, stuttering over Carol in utter shock at the obvious change she's undergone. Some faces he recognizes, most of them he doesn't, and some are missing. Lori is missing. He settles back on Rick, whose gaze is frank and unwavering. His hand rests on his gun, holstered at his belt.

"Hello again," Rick says.

* * *

The baby's name is Judith, and she has Lori's eyes. Rick quickly forbids him from touching her, and though he desperately wants to object, he holds his tongue. Something tells him that Rick should not be tested. He leads the group with quiet efficiency. At the warning looks the man cuts him and then Carl, he knows that there's only one reason he's still here. He wonders how long he'll be allowed to stay.,  
Carl tracks him with his eyes as Shane makes rounds around the camp, stopping in to talk with everyone. He's the most surprised by the closeness between Carol and Daryl. They are seamless in their communication, wordless and physical. When Shane moves to speak with Daryl, Daryl pointedly walks over and seats himself between the two of them. Carol rolls her eyes, but does not object.

"You've had a--a real metamorphosis, Carol." Shane remarks, laughing at his own choice of wording (even though it's the only one that fits). Daryl snorts. Carol smiles, a dangerous edge to the mischievous tilt in her lips.

"You know. Kill some walkers and some crazy people. Blow up a building. Wrap Daryl around your finger. All in a day's work."

He barks a laugh, a little afraid--blow up a building?--and strangely delighted by this new woman wearing a familiar face. When he leaves, she slides closer to Daryl and, after a moment, brushes his hair from his face to press a kiss onto the dirty skin of his temple. He leans into it, as if he's been expecting it. There's something scarily subdued about Daryl, now. He's no longer the hot-headed man he met in Atlanta, high strung with anger and something to prove. It's like he's been tamed.

The newcomers are amiable enough. Noah is two times more nervous than he has any right to be. Eugene talks too much. Abraham doesn't talk enough, but the way he speaks, the way he carries himself, and the dog tags handing from his throat tells him all that he needs to know. Rosita is thoughtful and friendly, if distant. Tara is damn funny, and far more intelligent than she lets on. Michonne has lingered by by Carl and Rick's side, obviously a trusted friend, and she looks upon Shane with openly calculating eyes. She speaks to him in clipped, low tones, but smiles warmly at Carl, and clasps a hand on Rick's broad shoulder in an act of solidarity. Sasha keeps to herself, nods at him, and doesn't speak. Maggie and Glenn are almost a unit in of themselves. A red-eyed Maggie forces a smile for him, and Glenn shakes his hand in welcome, face clouded.

He makes his way over to Carl again when he's done, laughing when the boy jumps up to hug him again.

"Woah, buddy. It's alright. Really, I'm still here, I promise."

Carl had moved so quickly that his hat had fallen from his hair, slick with sweat from their long trek. It's that same damn hat as before, and Shane half wishes he could burn it, because it reminds him of all the things he could have done better. Carl slots himself against his side when he sits down, and a rising panic he'd been unaware of is tempered by his presence.


	2. A Warning

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Rick's breath is warm where it ghosts across Shane's skin, and it leaves a sickly wetness in its wake.

The earliest memory Shane has of Rick is of a sweetly smiling young boy with a tray of cookies in hand, cheeks round and ruddy with baby fat, eyes alight with curiosity.

When he was eleven, Shane's father was killed. His mother dragged him kicking and screaming to her hometown. With a wince, Shane recalls how awful he had been to her. Most nights, she went to bed in tears, unable to coax him from the living room floor, where he'd lay for hours, mind and face blank. 

It turned out that one of their new neighbors had been a childhood friend of hid mother's. Too busy to visit herself, she sent her son instead, with a batch of her homemade peanut butter cookies and a note, promising a visit. After his mom greeted him, Rick invited himself in, chattering nonstop about the town, and the school, and his grandfather, and any little thing that came to mind. Shane remembers thinking,  _"Okay, there you are."_

The dead-eyed man who takes Shane elbow and pulls aside now is not the friendly boy who insistently took him under his wing, nor the teen who looked up at him with reverence in his eyes, nor the harrowed policeman with too much to lose. He feels that this Rick is the person who lay underneath all those facets of himself—several fleshy layers forcibly peeled back to expose the titanium core.

"How have you been?" Shane ventures, fighting not to recoil at the knot of primal, defensive fear that settles firmly in the base of his spine.

"I'm livin'," Rick replies, not missing a beat. He continues on, face blank, as if the question hadn't been asked at all. "You're still here for two reasons: Carl wants you to be here, and we need more warm bodies. You do your part, you help keep the group safe, we won't have a problem. You won't ever keep watch. You're free to leave when I say you can, but tell Carl, first."

With that, Rick's grip on his elbow slackens. Shane angles his body away from Rick, and the man slowly lowers his hand. 

"That sounds fair." 

"Oh, and Shane?"

"Yeah."

Rick steps into his space, tilts his head into Shane's, until their noes are nearly touching. They stay locked in place for what seems like hours. Rick's breath is warm where it ghosts across Shane's skin, and it leaves a sickly wetness in its wake.

"If you touch Judith, I'll know."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Rick is hella intimidating to write, let me tell you.


	3. A Thank You

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "I just wanted to say something to you. I never got the chance."

"So," Carol begins.

It takes everything in Shane's power not to startle. The group's constant chatter and the dull, continous roar of footfall covered the woman's approach.

"What can I do for you, Carol?"

She shrugs one shoulder, face serene. Her expression brightens into a warm smile when Rick glances at the two of them over his shoulder, a question in his eyes. There's something forced about her smile, a darkness lurking whiplash tight behind the easy way it's given. There's a story behind it. He isn't sure he wants to learn it, but it unravels the quiet anxiety in his chest nonetheless. It's strangely comforting to realize he's not the only one who feels oddly about Rick.

"I just wanted to say something to you. I never got the chance."

She stops walking. Shane continues on for a few steps before he stops as well, turning to meet her gaze.

"Thank you. If you hadn't beat Ed, I wouldn't be here right now. No," She adds, when he opens his mouth. "Don't say anything."

Shane laughs, a hand raising to massage the back of his neck.

"Seems like a lot of folks have been telling me what to do lately."

"Accept my thanks." Carol commands, smiling a real smile this time.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Carol is my spirit animal


	4. A Friend

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> She pauses, gives him a sidelong look. By the quirk of her lips, she doesn't believe him one bit.
> 
> "I don't know, man. This whole situation just seems very... Shakespearean."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> YOU HAVE NO IDEA HOW MANY TIMES I'VE REWRITTEN THIS

There's a sort of unspoken order to where each person parks themselves, when they camp at night. Rick, Michonne, and Carl sleep close always, Carl in the middle with his little sister curled into his chest. She's a calm child when for the most part, content with affection and warmth, and Carl has it for her in spades. Carol sleeps as far away from the group as Rick will allow, and Daryl as well-though he always situates himself to where she is in his line of sight. Rosita and Abraham bracket Eugene. Tara and Noah lay side by side, often talking into the night. Maggie and Glenn practically wrap themselves around each other, filling in the other's empty spaces, whispering. 

Shane sleeps somewhere in the middle of all of them, surrounded by them, but somehow detached. Even Carl, who seems to love him just as indiscriminately as he did before, has found his niche and doesn't seem inclined to leave it. While they make camp, the boy will sit with him, and they trade conversation, falling into a comfortable rhythm that they never really had before. He's matured. (Shane remembers feeling a pang of sadness at the realization that he had missed watching him grow; a phantom ache hits his chest at the memory of the moment.) He knows when to listen—and he listens when his father calls for him.

Rustling, and a heavy thump pulls him from his pensive thoughts. He cracks one eye open, and is met with Tara's pretty, smiling face. She adjusts her blanket and lays on her side, close to him.

"What," He croaks, vaguely irritated. He had been close to sleep. It's what he does, these days. He thinks until his own thoughts exhaust him, and then succumbs to the nightmares that greet him with each sleep.

"Hi."

"What are you doing?"

"I'm talking to you. More like, I will be. I had a few questions."

"Can't it wait 'till morning?"

Tara scoffs at him, rolling onto her back.

"That's a bad time. Rick's less likely to not  _not_ be paying attention in the morning."

This wakes him up completely. Shane sighs, deep slow, and props himself up on his elbow. His eyes dart towards where he knows Rick will be. He feels grateful to see that he's laying on his side, his back turned to them. It makes sense. He had taken his watch and Maggie's the night before, and had been nearly dead on his feet today. Still, tiredness doesn't make him unaware, so he speaks lowly.

"What did you want to know?"

As if she just now realized whose wrath could be brought down on them, Tara glances over her shoulder. She smiles when Carl catches her gaze and grins. 

"So," She says, turning back to him. "What the hell happened between you guys?"

"Nothing."

She pauses, gives him a sidelong look. By the quirk of her lips, she doesn't believe him one bit.

"I don't know, man. This whole situation just seems very... Shakespearean." She says.

"Shakespearean." Shane deadpans.

"Yeah! You know, 'Macbeth hath murdered sleep' and all that."

"I know what you mean." Shane says, laughing despite himself, because it makes a lot of sense.

"I mean, you guys obviously knew each other. Like, before. It's like he thinks you're an axe-murderer or something."

"Well, I didn't give him much reason to think otherwise." He mutters, rubbing a hand over his face.

There's a lull in their conversation, the silence rife with tension. Tara watches him unabashedly, and he watches her back, and wonders what kind of things she's done in her life.

As if she's read his mind, she says, "You know, I did something pretty crappy. To the group, I mean. But then I met up with Glenn. We traveled together, for a bit. When we met up with the group, they just kind of—"

She sweeps her arms up, towards the sky, and then lets them fall down to the earth. "Absorbed me. Whatever you did can't be worse than what I did. So stop looking like such a sad sack all the time. Just  _breathing your air_ is depressing."

Tara grins at the bark of laughter Shane lets out at that, victorious and bright.

"Also, stop thinking so loud. Some of us need our beauty sleep. Especially if they have next watch," She adds, pointing at herself. Then she yawns, and closes her eyes.

The silence is comfortable this time, and when Shane sleeps, it is without dreams.

**Author's Note:**

> Interest check! Please leave your thoughts. This is based off of a kink meme prompt that asked for an AU in which Shane was banished, and then somehow joins back up with the group during the current season. If you find this somehow, OP, I hope this is to your liking! I posted this here because the meme is more than a little dead. There will be more. What I had in mind was a series of oneshots, but we'll see where this goes.


End file.
